Comparing Power Consumption of different SSDs

SSDs are known for their low heat dissipation and silent working. The reason is the fact that SSDs have no moving parts. But, how much power does an SSD consume? Also, what is the difference between the power consumption of a 2.5″ SATA SSD and an M.2 SSD? Also, how much a normal U.2 PCIe SSD is going to consume. So, in this article, I am going to answer all your questions.

Power consumption is not really a big matter when we talk about SSDs. These are very small devices that consume very less power because they use flash memory for storage purposes. Flash Memory is high power-efficient as compared to any other type of storage. But, there is very little difference between the power usage of an SSD and an HDD.

So, while building a professional PC, it can be very important to take care of every hardware component and its overall power usage. So, I am going to give you a detailed overview of SSD power usage. So, without any further delays, let’s get started.

Does SSD consume less power than an HDD?

In most cases, SSDs consume a little bit higher power as compared to an HDD. That might sound surprising. We all know HDDs include spinning disks and a motor is required to run them. But, still, most of the SSDs (especially the faster ones) are going to consume a whole lot of power as compared to the HDDs.

The reason why SSDs consume more data as compared to HDDs is their structure. SSDs are full of chips and other electronic components. So, even if you have to store 1MB of data, most of the chips are required to be activated and it is obvious that they will demand power for the same.

Why SSDs consume more power as compared to HDDs?

The reason is very simple to understand. HDDs will use the power only when the disk is required to rotate. When there is no work in hand, the disk will stop and the motor will rest in idle condition. This can happen for a longer period of time while you are doing the stuff where only RAM is important.

But, SSDs need more data for various tasks like wear-leveling and storage itself. In fact, the data is stored in the form of electrons in SSDs. So, while starting up, an SSD will generally demand more electricity to charge up the capacitors first of all. Also, the SSDs will remain in an idle state very little.

Comparison Table of all SSD’s Power Consumption

Most Popular SSD with their power consumption in watts (Idle Condition)

How much power do a 2.5 inches SATA SSD consume?

The power consumption of each SSD is different depending on its structure and technology used. However, generally, a 2.5″ SATA SSD will consume 5 Volts (Voltage) and around ~1.5 Ampere of current. So, the total power usage can be 7.5 to 8 watts. You will see the same results with all the 2.5 inches SATA SSDs.

How to calculate the power consumption of any SSD?

While buying your SSD, you can easily check its voltage and current and then multiply it to get the total amount of power requirements in watts.

You will see most of the SSDs demanding voltage between 4.5 to 5 volts. And, they all will also demand the current between 1 to 2 Ampere. Now, you can easily calculate that your total power requirement will be within 7 to 9 watts.

How much power does an mSATA SSD consume?

mSATA SSD will offer you the same features and speed as a normal 2.5 inches SATA SSD. So, the power consumption is also the same. No mSATA SSD consumes more than 5 watts either while writing data or in idle condition.

According to Anandtech, the SAMSUNG 840 Evo mSATA SSD consume 4.15 watts while sequential writing and 4.24 watts while sequential reading. Most of the other popular mSATA SSDs are going to consume less than this amount of power.

How much power does an M.2 SATA SSD consume?

M.2 SATA SSD offers the same speed as a normal 2.5″ SATA SSD but it has a smaller form factor. So, it may demand less power from your system. However, these SSDs tend to heat up quickly and this excessive heat can result in extra power requirements.

Normally, you will see most of the M.2 SSDs requiring 3.5W to 5.0 Watts power. However, some SSDs from various companies may need more than 5.0 watts of power to work properly.

In an idle state, any SSD is never going to consume more than 2 Watts.

How much power does an M.2 NVMe SSD consume?

Most of the NVMe drives will need 10 to 12 volts to run effectively. Because they have faster speed, the total current drawn can reach up to 2 Ampere. In general, an NVMe SSD will require 8 to 10 watts of total power.

NVMe SSDs use PCIe technology and in order to power up the transfer and storage of data, the electrons are required to be moved faster. For that, it is very important to have a good power input.

How much power does a Desktop PCIe SSD consume?

Just take an example of the most popular PCIe U.2 SSD i.e. Intel Optane 905P. This SSD will consume around 4 watts in its idle condition. However, while writing the data, it can start consuming around 17 watts. So, any other SSD in this form factor can never consume more than that value.

However, most of the PCIe U.2 SSDs are going to consume around 10 watts because of their bigger size and high performance.

Does Read/Write speed increase power requirement in SSDs?

Yes, the power requirements in any SSD or HDD will be higher when you are doing any read/write job. In simple words, if you are copying any file from one folder to another or from one drive to another, the storage device will demand more voltage and current. This will eventually increase the total power intake.

However, when your HDD or SSD is in an idle state, the power consumption will be low. Most of the time, the total power requirement you will see with any storage device will be required when it’s in an idle state.

Should you worry about the higher power consumption of your SSD?

Not at all. It is normal to see your SSD consuming about 10 watts of power while doing its job at its best. However, if it is consuming much more than that, it could be a thing to be worried about. But, in most cases, your SSDs are going to use that much power and then heat up as well.

So, you should forget about all those things and let your SSD handle all those things. They are known for their reliability even under harsh environments. However, if you are a normal computer user or even a gamer, your system with even a 450W power supply is enough for all the components along with your SSD.

Final Verdict

I hope you are now aware of the total power consumption of SATA, M.2 SATA, mSATA, M.2 NVMe, and PCIe SSD. So, whatever SSD you are using 5 to 10 watts is the normal power usage. Keep that thing in mind and just go for an SSD you want.

Thanks for reading.